Saturday, May 16, 2009

They say the old ones are the best. In pointless truisms, it's hard to beat, “Everyone talks about the weather, but no-one ever does anything about it!”

The reason is, of course, obvious. No-one really can do anything about the weather – unless you consider that weather is a subset of climate and believe the Global-Warming Nutters.

So, the humour in the saying about the weather is in it's pointlessness.

Football is different than the weather.

Everyone talks about how various aspects of the game are either silly, unfair, useless or just plain daft. The difference is something could be done, but never is.

So, we had the Chelsea fans and players incensed at the referee who clearly had a very poor game. He missed some obvious and blatant calls. He was doing his best, no doubt, but his best just wasn't good enough.

Something could be done about this. Some examples: give each manager one challenge per half. Ball's out of play, throw the challenge flag – a bit like the NFL. Video replay clearly shows what happened. Video ref overrules the on-field ref. Result; the correct decision is reached. How about using he linesmen (or referee's assistants as they are now called)? Get them off the touch line and onto the pitch. Whilst looking for offsides, let them also spot obvious fouls, etc. and give them a whistle instead of the gay little flag they are so fond of waving about for the referee to ignore! How about the times the ball crosses the goal line and the officials seem to ignore it? Yes, it happens. You've all seen it on TV. Why can't the fourth official simply call the ref and say, “Excuse me, a goal has just been scored!”

Football is full of these crazy situations that should not be tolerated. Cricket and rugby – both as hide-bound sports as you might wish to find at one stage have both embraced the technology required to improve decision-making wholeheartedly.

Why should football be different?

Answer. Easy. Football is run by numpties. Because it is a world game every little country like Tuvalu and Bhutan have a say. The equivalent would be giving a UN veto to all. Nothing ever changes.

It's time for someone to break ranks and stop crazy things from incensing the fans (who pay the money) and the manager who may be out of a job because a simple decision is missed.